Is there a good reference for the standard evolution vs. creationism arguments?
AmbroseChapel, your friend acknowledges that evolution exists but decides to twist it into a religiously motivated perversion of the theory. Mostly it looks like a haphazard construct built to fit together well-known scientific facts with creationist nonsense. He/she holds an all-too common emotional resistance to the idea of simian and pre-simian ancestry. I don’t think there’s a short answer to the thesis. The only answer is education, mainly reading a few choice books (or even just one) about accepted evolutionary theory. However, I doubt your friend is willing to complement his/her current knowledge while jeopardizing dearly held beliefs or accepting the uncomfortable fact of human non-specialness and our “lower being” ancestors. One alternative that comes to mind is this: dismantle her current view with any set of facts you can find. Turn to books for that. But after that, you could always say that evolution is a tool and a system devised by God for the purpose of keeping up progr
